A Few Apologies About Yesterday's News, Combat Tables and Some Other Stuff

D'OH!

A few of my links were broken in yesterday's newspost. While they have been fixed, I wanted to apologize to my readers and most importantly, to those authors and bloggers I didn't link to correctly.

I'm usually quite assiduous, when it comes to my commitment to making a quality news post. But, I was pressed for time yesterday, blogger was giving me fits with formatting and a news post as long as yesterday's, takes a few hours to put together. That's with having all the links already collected and ready to go. So, I rushed things a bit, as I had an errand to run and family coming to visit. Then, rushing to get out the door, I neglected to properly proof read my post. I should have just waited and put it out in the evening, which is how I will handle things in the future.

One of my links to B/X Blackrazor was incorrect, though fortunately the second one was operational. I completely forgot to insert the link, to N. Wright's Aremorican Addendum, or lost it during formatting. It took me over two hours, before I caught and corrected the error. Lastly, my link to Joe Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep forum was inaccurate.

Gentleman, I owe you all some extra pimpage! Again, my most sincere apologies to you all and to my readers.

The Old School Mainstream?

Hogscape of Like Real Life posted a review of LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing. I wrote this in his comments:

Hi again Hogscape :) - Various people played in various ways, back when they were kids. What matters, is what we're doing with the game Now. 

If you think nostalgia is really what's driving all the passion, creativity and enthusiasm, evident on the over 200 OSR blogs, the forums and in actual by-god physically present gaming groups, you're going to miss what's really going on by a country mile. 

There are certainly people who take S&W or LL, etc., out for a spin, because they think it's a hoot or because they are on a nostalgia kick. And after a short period of time, they either go back to their old pursuits, or discover what some never forgot. 

Mr. Raggi isn't outside the "mainstream" of the OSR. Far from it! I don't want to put any words in your mouth, but you seem to be imagining that those of us into Old School gaming, are... unsophisticated, shall we say?

My games were never one-dimensional, even back in the day. And I've learned a trick or two, in the past three decades. TSR era D&D suits my purposes. That's why I play it. I've never played 4e and won't. I DMed 3e for 7 years. I like 3e. But I prefer the lighter rules, flexibility and overall flavor of the earlier versions of the game.


While certainly not all my thoughts on the subject, as I didn't want to write an essay in someones Comment Section, I hope I managed to entice Hogscape to investigate the Old School scene a little more thoroughly. As can be seen from his post and comments, he seems like a nice fellow and like many, just has a few misconceptions about what's really going on in Old School circles. 


AD&D, Osric, Swords & Wizardry And Combat Tables

So, I think I've narrowed things down to two choices:

I'm either going to run AD&D, but using the Combat Tables from Osric, or S&W, but using Osric Inspired Combat Tables.

Here's the thing. As far as AD&D goes, not only do I like the the way Osric gives the Fighter a +1 to hit every level, after the first, as opposed to two every other level, but the Monster Attacks are adjusted to a straight-up +1 to hit per Monster Hit Die. The AD&D Monster charts are roughly the same, but are a just a little wonky in the low-mid levels, before evening out and following the +1 per hit die formula. Allowing Fighters to progress 5% per level, as opposed to 10% every other level, is an optional rule in the DMG, so it's not so much a different rule as a different presentation, in that case. With Monsters, I not only think the formula followed in Osric is really fine, but it follows James Maliszewski's Chartless Combat formula, perfectly. Monster HD + Negative AC + 1d20. 20 or higher is a hit. I'll need to go over Osric some more, to see if there's anything else I want to swipe.

My only real issue with AD&D, is that I feel Gary has done a little too much of my work, for me. Not a problem, but I love the idea of taking S&W and building My D&D, Not that I can't do that with AD&D. I just think that taking the journey using S&W might be more educational, fun and easier.

Which brings me to the S&W combat charts. I have a problem with the way they work out.

That may be because I never look at a campaign as a short or even mid-term thing. I've DMed two very long-lasting campaigns over the past 28 years, so I'm always telling myself that "This one is going the Distance, too!" That's rare, but I always plan it out that way.

Ok, taking LL, S&W and AD&D and comparing the combat charts, is kind of interesting. The Cleric has roughly the same probabilities, across all three games. The MU gets an easier time of it in the earlier games, until very high level. But, the big difference, is the Fighter! The Fighting-Man keeps getting better and better, until in AD&D he's clearly head & shoulders above his fellow adventurers, in terms of Combat Ability Progression.

Tying into this, is that the S&W Core Rules Cleric, has been given some Divine Favor and progresses faster than his OD&D, S&W Whitebox, AD&D, etc., counterparts

Let's take two players. Call em Sam and Bilbo. They're playing S&W Core Rules. We give Sam and Bilbo 225,000 xp and Sam builds a S&W Cleric, while Bilbo makes a Fighter. Sam's Cleric will be 10th lvl and Bilbo's Fighter will be 8th, but close to 9th. They will both hit AC 0 on a role of 14.

After a several years, they amass 780,000 xp! We're assuming they've probably been resurrected a few times, lost xp due to Energy Draining Undead and have probably been hit with a Girdle of Masuclinity/Femininity, to boot! But, they've finally got 780,000 XP! Sam's Cleric is now 18th lvl with and will hit AC 0 on a 9! Bilbo's Fighter is barely 14th. He hits AC 0 on a 10.

Granted, Sam can't use Magic Swords. And eventually, their To Hit bonus will max out. Bilbo will catch up and once again, his To Hit will be better than Sam's by 2. Eventually. By 2. Hmm.

While I wouldn't want to go as far as Mr. Raggi, I do think that the Fighter should definitely be better at fighting, than the Cleric.

So, If I run S&W, I'll use ascending AC and utilizing some ideas from Osric, the Modified Chart will look like this:

Utilizing the S&W XP progressions, there's a point where the Cleric will almost catch up to the Fighter, with the latter being ahead only by one, before eventually leaving the Cleric well behind. At 570,000 XP, the Cleric will be 15th level with a +8 to hit and the Fighter will be 12th level, with a +11 to hit. At 780,000 XP, the Cleric will be 18 and the Fighter will be 14th. The Fighter will still be ahead by three. Eventually, at very high levels, the Fighter will pull a little further ahead, as can be seen at the extreme end of the chart. 

The MU gets a fairly heavy reduction in Combat Ability, which I'm more than fine with. Monster to hit will stay the same, at +1 per Hit Die. I tested out the Thief, though I don't remember who's version of XP I used and the Thief came within 1 of the Fighter at two points, before the Fighter once again pulls ahead. 

If I run S&W, I'll use an Ability Score Bonus of 13-16 = +1 and 17-18 = +2. Overall, I like that scheme better than the one in AD&D or LL, though it's certainly not a deal-breaker, when it comes to deciding what to run. And if I ran S&W, I would probably add Casting Times and Combat Segments, as I like that aspect to Combat and Spell-casting in AD&D. And of course, the Types of Magic.

All of which brings to mind two questions:

1. Should I just go ahead and go with AD&D at that point? 
2. If not, what in the world should really go in my "What I'm DMing" Widget?

A Guide to Free OSR Stuff on the Web

A by no means exhaustive (yet) list of links to free OSR gaming materials. This is a collection of links to material in PDF, Word or Open Office format. Except for cases with mixed collections, I’m not yet attempting to catalogue blog, webpage or forum resources. My tentative plan is to update this once or twice a month, until it turns into something truly monstrous!

Unless otherwise noted, the links are to the pages hosting the files and not the files themselves.

Retro-Clones

Swords & Wizardry Core Rules PDF.

Swords & Wizardry Whitebox PDF.

Labyrinth Lord – No Art Version.

LL Advanced Edition Companion – No Art Version.

Mutant Future.

Osric.

Osric – High Res Version.

Spellcraft & Swordplay.

Microlite 74.

Basic Fantasy.

Rules Supplements

Monsters of Myth (Osric).

Companion Expansion – Barrataria Games.

The Swords & Wizardry Companion.

0E Swords & Wizardry Monster Book in doc format.

Supplements from the Eiglophian Press.

Supplements from the Underdark Gazette.

The Holmes Treasury.

The Holmes Blue Book Companion.

Meepo’s Holmes Companion (direct link.)

The Gray Book.

Creatures From Unknown Lands (LL).

Modules

The Outpost on the Edge of the Far Reaches by Paul Fini.

Under Xylarthen’s Tower by Jeff Rients.

Castle of the Mad Archmage.

The Lost Staves of Maurauth.

Fabled Curse of the Brigand Crypt.

The Courtyard of Gerald the Red.

The One Page Dungeon Codex 2009.

The Fane of St. Toad by Michael Curtis.

Sham’s The Dismal Depths link 1.

Sham’s The Dismal Depths link 2.

Sham’s The Dismal Depths link 3.

The Mines of Khunmar (direct link.)

Temple of the Ghoul.

Mixed Collections & Misc.

AntiPaladin Games’ Old School Fantasy Section.

Dragonsfoot.

Classic Edition Fantasy Resources. (Jason Vey’s Conan Supplements & More!)

A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming.

Star Frontiersman Downloads.

Greyhawk Grognard: Best of the Blog 2008 – 2009.

Beyond the Black Gate Compendium 2009.

Setting Supplements

The Carcosan Grimoire.

Color Carcosa Map.

The Metal Earth Resources.

Index of Freely Available Planet Algol Campaign Resources.

Encyclopedia Subterranica.

Engines & Empires.

The World of Thundarr supplement for Mutant Future.

Reference

Kellri’s PDF Downloads.

Campaign Journal from The Warlock’s Home Brew.

Magazines & Zines

OD&Dities Archive at Breeyark.org.

The Oerth Journal.

Encounter Magazine.

Other Games

Encounter Critical.

Mazes & Minotaurs. 

Dungeonslayers.

 

Hopefully, I Can Now Move On, To More Enjoyable Pursuits

I decided to get kinda pissed off, this evening. I read a post by G. Benedicto. He posted a reply and link to this guy, who’s decided to paint old-schoolers as a bunch of emotionally stunted, “fat-beards,” who like sandboxes because we’re incapable of giving a fuck about our friends. After leaving a bunch of comments on both posts, which were, I think, respectful and fair, if angry, I reminded myself, that this kind of shit was the reason I stopped posting on the WOTC boards. The reason that the OSR blogoverse, was such a breath of fresh air.

Gamers downing the OSR, is something that’s been really getting on my nerves, of late. I decided to ask myself why, so I would stop wasting my energy, getting pissed off over the opinions of strangers.

I really hate being looked down upon. I hate being seen as unworthy. I hate other people, being unfairly belittled, as well. It ties in to some deep seated issue of mine, about being unfairly made to lose face. In my more mystical or whimsical moments, I connect this to a Chinese incarnation, though I don’t know if that’s actual or symbolic.

Regardless, I think I’ve seen enough of how and why I was choosing to act, to take the charge out of this particular manifestation of the issue. I really do, have better things to do, than to get myself all worked up by how people I don’t even know, see me and the community I’m involved with.

I’d rather go here and remember what I love about sharing with my fellow gamers.

Carcosa And The OSR – The Impact of Geoffrey McKinney

Human beings, like to take ideas and push them to the limit. We like to see just how far, we can take and ride, our concepts, our plans, our theories. A look around us, as well as backwards into history, will show that sometimes, we go too damn far.

But, we can’t let that realization stifle our creativity, or, imprison our artistic impulses. Art has to be free to break the bonds of our self-imposed limits, to blaze new trails, for others to follow. And to open doors, upon disturbing places.

When I first discovered the OSR, Geoffrey McKinney’s Carcosa, had been out for almost a year. I think I first saw it referenced on James Maliszewski’s, Grognardia. My interest piqued, I followed up on the several reviews, as well as various forum threads.

Of course, with so much hoopla being made, I had to get a copy of the First Edition and see it for myself.

The work is incredibly evocative. The sections of Carcosa, unfold like the symbolism within a particularly disparate dream, informing a rich, unique milieu. It is, Far Fucking Out!

As a work of art, of fiction, I can appreciate Carcosa for what it is, disturbing  elements and all. I’m glad I own a copy. As an RPG supplement, it’s not something I would ever use, in its entirety.

When it comes to evil PC’s, there’s evil and then, there’s EVIL. I’ve never had things go so far, that I felt the need to step in and stop it. I had a session come real close, once. I’ll tell you guys about that, sometime.

Geoffrey McKinney, made a post on Dragonsfoot, showing what was said, as his group utilized one of Carcosa’s rituals. From what I can tell, they kind of glossed it. You know, like many of us sometimes gloss over PC shopping trips, or long overland travels?

Not that I blame them. I mean, I’ve role-played some rather intense, Mature Audiences Only, scenes in my time. But really, some of the places, presented in the Rituals section of Carcosa, aren’t ones I would choose to visit.

But, the “shopping trip” approach, is a cop-out. If I’m not willing to role-play a situation, then, why the hell would I want to bring elements into my game, which are likely to foster the creation of such a scene?

Yeah, I’m being a little disingenuous. I know the answer to that question. It’s so I can create that kind of dark, horrifying story and touch on that kind of role-playing experience, without wading in, too deeply. Frankly, though, if the swimming pool is just too nasty to dive into, then, I’m not going to fuck around in the shallow end, either.

Interestingly enough, while I’ve never had a player, sacrifice a victim to the Dark  Ones, I’ve played NPC’s, doing so. I don’t have a problem with role-playing a happy little human sacrifice, scene. Wherever my personal Line in the Sand is, it’s somewhere on the other side, of the picture to the right and this side, of the more heinous Rituals, in Geoffrey Mckinney’s, weird little masterpiece.

This isn’t a shot, at gamers who use Carcosa’s sorcery. I wish all you guys well, whatever it is you’re playing. Have fun and be sure to give us a play report, along with anything else, you feel like sharing.

Many people, seeking to defend the ritual section of the work, have brought up the fact that it’s written in a very sober, minimalist, matter of fact style. The idea being, that no salaciousness, or joy in the repugnant details, was involved or intended.

The emotionless, neutral tone of the writing, is delivered in such a way, that it manages to be both formulaic and evocative. In places, the tone and delivery, reminded me of some of the passages, from the 18th century era European Grimoires. Kind of an amoral cookbook, vibe. The presentation, may have exacerbated, the already disturbing elements involved, for some readers. There were some really, really hysterical reactions, out there.

There’s much, much more to Carcosa, than intense, fucked up sorcery. There are aliens, advanced technology, Cthulhu, Power Armor, Psionics, a hell of a cool hexmap, strange dice mechanics, thirteen races of humans and so many delightful ideas, that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Some folks, predicted that Carcosa would fall flat and go nowhere. That, the more disturbing aspects of the work, would insure that it would never find an audience. I suspect, most of those gamers, hadn’t even examined the contents. Regardless, they were wrong. Very, very wrong.

  Many gamers, dig Carcosa, immensely. The Original D&D Discussion forum, hosts a Carcosa sub-forum, as well as an online Pbp game. The Carcosan Grimoire, a free supplement, produced by gamers who appreciate Carcosa, may be found, here.

Mr. McKinney wrote a module for the setting, Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer, which, was published in Fight On! #4, then re-issued, in a revised edition, now available from the author. Lastly, as far as specifically Carcosan materials go, Cameron DuBeers wrote a module, published by Brave Halfling Publishing, called Obregon’s Dishonor. That Carcosa has spawned its own supplements and modules is noteworthy.

Evidently, Mr. McKinney hit a chord, here.

But, Carcosa’s influence, extends even further. Blair’s Planet Algol, is one of the most well known blog’s in the OSR and rightly so. With a heavy dollop of Carcosa’s Seasoning, mixed with a psychedelic soundtrack and more high weirdness than a Robert Anton Wilson story (fiction or non-fiction, take your pick,) Planet Algol is one of those campaigns, which is destined to become the stuff of legend. It’s already spawned a progeny of its own, as Sean Wills, has started his own Planet Algol game. He’s giving us the details on his blog, Bite the Bulette. Blair is getting ready to publish a supplement, Planet Algol 1 : The Iridium Plateau. Personally, I love Planet Algol and can’t wait for the supplement.

Mr. McKinney has helped inspire at least one other campaign and blog, as well.  Check out the introductory post, at G. Benedicto’s Quantique.

Weird Science, Lovecraft, Horror and more. The broader spectrum of the Fantastic, is finding expression in the OSR and Geoffrey McKinney’s work has helped shape and give impetus to this phenomenon. These elements were always there, going all the way back, to the beginning of RPG history. Most certainly, many other designers have a hand in current trends, from both before Carcosa and afterwards. With all that, being said, Geoffrey McKinney’s influence is palpable. Whatever one may think of Carcosa, there’s no denying that it has proven itself to be a seminal work of the burgeoning, Old School Renaissance.

Swords & Wizardry Miniatures!

Image from the Center Stage Miniatures website.

A New OSR Release, Some Links, and More

Robert Conley at Bat in the Attic Games has announced the release of The Majestic Wilderlands. Dubbed Supplement VI, you can read more at the link above, or check out his blog. 

Every OSR release is a cause for celebration and in the past few weeks we’ve been treated to a number of wonderful, new publications. Congratulations to Mr. Conley!

 

 

I was tooling around on the web earlier and stumbled across an essay I’ve been searching for: Don Herron’s "Conan vs. Conantics."  I’ve seen this essay referenced by REH scholars and I’m pleased to have finally found a copy. So, if anyone else is looking for it, here it is.

I also found Kings of the Night, a Swords & Sorcery webzine.

The John Carter of Mars Official Site has all the novels online, art, scholarship and more.

Remember Powers & Perils, the old Avalon Hill RPG? I have no idea if it’s any good or not, but, here it is! Web version, as well as PDF’s of the originals. The Campaign Setting set is here, also. The whole thing is organized a little strangely, but, a little poking around will show what’s going on. There’s even a player directory for the game, though, it looks to be out of date.

My Recent Comments & Recent Posts widgets have quit working and have been removed. I’m not sure what the issue is, but, I’ve missed some comments which were made on other than current posts. So, for those who left a comment and didn’t receive a reply, my apologies and thanks!

A New Release From Barrataria Games

To clear up any confusion, I am reporting on the item below. I have no association with Barrataria Games.

From the Barrataria Games Storefront:

Companion Expansion (multimedia download)
Download: FREE
The Companion Expansion presents additional classes, spells, weapons and equipment, creatures and magical items for fantasy roleplaying games for basic- and expert-level players and gamemasters. It includes 7 additional character classes (bard, druid, gnome, half-elf/half-orc, half-ogre, illusionist, scout), expanded experience, combat, and saving throw tables, two additional types of magic (druid and illusion) and additional magic-user and cleric spells (90 in all), over 130 new or additional creatures (with a comprehensive index and suggested experience point awards), dozens of new or additional magic items, and extended treasure generation tables. Use these rules to expand your campaign in the WORLD OF STRONGHOLD or wherever your games are set!
[11/28/2009: Free download version now available!  Layout in progress on print-on-demand version to be available at lulu and amazon.com.]

The free download is a no-art version, but, the upcoming print version will be illustrated. Congratulations and a hearty Thank You, to the folks at Barrataria games!

Showing Off My Copy of Stonehell

After finding a really good deal on Cardstock and Sheet Protectors, I bought a Binder and printed out a nice, durable copy of my recently purchased PDF of Stonehell, as well as the first supplement. Granted, I ended up spending more than I would have for a print copy, but, I enjoy this type of little project and the copy I put together is very user friendly. I used a b&w laser printer for everything except the front covers of the main book and supplement, for which I used an inkjet. I’ll be posting my review of Stonehell in the next day or two. For now, I’ll just say it’s damn good!

 

 

Knockspell # 3 is Out - And a Few Odds & Ends

I am really digging Peter Mullen's art!

Just in case any of these ramblings might be construed as a review, no one has asked, bribed, paid, coerced, or otherwise enticed me to write any of the following. I purchased pdf’s of all three Knockspells over the past week from Black Blade Publishing. Go thou, and do likewise! The PDF’s are $4.00 each. A saddle stiched print version of # 3 is available for $10. I had trouble using Google Chrome to download from Black Blade, so, I pulled up Explorer (ugh!) and it worked just fine. I didn’t check Firefox, as I haven’t yet reloaded it after having to reformat my laptop a couple of weeks ago.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably very familiar with the Old School blogoverse and the more famous denizens thereof. So, you’re already well aquainted with the writings of many of the contributors and already know if Knockspell is up your alley or not. It’s up mine and I’ll be purchasing future issues.

That reminds me, Philotomy's OD&D Musings site has disappeared. Fortunately,  a version of his oft quoted essay, “The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld” appears in Knockspell # 2.

My links section is shaping up nicely. I’m trying to provide the best, content rich collection of links I can, serving as a truly useful resource for my readers, as well as myself. If you know of anything that should be listed, please leave a comment. Recent additions include The Motherload of Greyhawk maps, The Motherload of Mystara maps, and The Isomage's House, which doesn’t have a whole lot of content, but, does feature a very nice color hexmap that will please fans of Joel Rosenberg’s The Guardians of the Flame series. Also, Jason Vey has produced a Hyborian Age OD&D Supplement, which can be downloaded in pdf form at his Classic Edition Fantasy Resources site. I haven’t read it yet, but, it looks quite nice and is formatted in the style of the old TSR publications. Thank you, Mr. Vey.

And a very special thanks to the folks who have added me to their blogroll.

Counter Revolution – Part II

So, I decided last week to run AD&D for my next campaign. I was tempted to go really Old School and run Swords & Wizardry, but, if I took that route, it wouldn’t be  so simple. There’s a lot of great material being produced by fans, not to mention the stuff they want $$$ for. Like this, for instance: Thief. This is from Beyond the Black Gate, one of my favorite blogs. Anyway, between what I’ve found on the net and the changes and additions I would make myself, I’m afraid it would end up looking a lot like, well, AD&D.

I could be ruthless and run the White Box version. But that one saving throw thing bothers me. Also, I understand the idea behind the max +1/-1 adjustment, it just doesn’t sit well with my sensibilities. I could get behind a +1 for 13 – 15 / +2 for 16 – 18 mechanic. But, if I go that far, well, I like the Thief, the Druid, and away we go, right back to AD&D. Or, at least, B/X. So, AD&D it is!

Now I just have to decide what campaign world to use. My original Kastmaria campaign ran for about five years. This was back when I was in my late teens to early twenties and had a lot more free time, as did my friends. So, for about the first three of those years, we would play two to three times a week, often for six to eight hours at a time; there was  closer to eight years or more worth of actual  playing time. Not only did I get to experience the fun of running a high level AD&D campaign, I also got to see my sandbox flesh out, transforming into a rich world, with history and depth. After that campaign, I ran another Kastmaria game that lasted about a year or so. Then, I shelved the world and went on to other places. Until 3e, and Sorcerers.

At the end of the first campaign, a long term plan set in motion by Ithquaris, the divinity of Magic, came to fruition. The purpose was to increase the capacity for magic-use in the inhabitants of the world, creating beings with inborn magical ability. Sorcerers. When 3e came out, with the Sorcerer Class, I decided it was time to dust of my old notebooks and update the campaign to the new edition. The timeline was set several hundred years after the last campaign ended and The Gift of Ithquaris had a profound effect on the subsequent history of the world. There were still fewer Sorcerers than Wizards, but, their numbers were increasing. As were the number of other creatures who were manifesting spontaneous magical abilities. Then there were the Bards. Here’s the entry from the Kastmaria Encyclopedia – 3e edition:

Bards – Centuries ago, the isle of Aldhuine hosted several Bardic Colleges, which were tightly allied with the Druids of Aldhuine. After The Dragon was transformed, the druids withdrew their support and banished the bards, along with almost all humans and demi-humans who weren’t true druids. Only the Wood Elves were allowed to continue living in their ancestral forests. The bards wandered Kastmaria, occasionally taking apprentices, but without a central college and staff of instructors, the quality of the new bards began to deteriorate. As the bardic lineages were at the point of disappearing, a few of the inheritors of The Gift of Ithquaris began to take an interest in Bardic Lore. They discovered that their talent for sorcery was a perfect medium to express the musical power of the bards and several young sorcerers began seeking out the few remaining bards of old, to learn their music and lore. Today, bards are still relatively rare, but there is a thriving modern tradition, composed of semi-secret brotherhoods of sorcerous musicians who pass their occult lore onto others with the talent and inclination to learn the ways of this ancient tradition reborn.

All tying very neatly into the 3e mechanics.

The whole Gift of Ithquaris thing actually runs so far back into the history of the campaign, that unless I want to create an AD&D Sorcerer class, which I don’t, it’ll be quite a headache. Back in the day, I experimented with creating a spell point system. I’m over that; I like Vancian casting. So, if I don’t want to create an AD&D sorcerer, my options are limited.

I can reboot the whole thing, jettisoning a lot of play and pre-play campaign history. As an aside, I wish that Wotc, if they just had to “fix” the Forgotten Realms, would have done a reboot. A better option than yet another edition changing apocalypse, not to mention offing Mystra and neutering Elminster.

Another option would be psionics. There’s a variant Psionicist class for AD&D that   was published in Dragon Magazine; also, I think the same issue had some ideas on making psionics a variant of magic. There’s a variant  Bard in the Dragon as well. The original campaign didn’t feature psionics, so, using the material from Dragon, and letting any other characters role for psionics, as usual, might allow me to continue with the original history.

If I go the reboot route, it would have to be so far reaching, that I think I would rather just create a new world. Or, run Greyhawk. Never ran Greyhawk.

Counter Revolution - Part 1

The art of Erol Otus, blue and white dungeon maps, thin adventure modules with unattached covers, the writings of Gary Gygax, The Dragon; these images and writings and the feelings I wrapped around them, move within my psyche and form the basis for my perception of Dungeons & Dragons. 1st Edition AD&D was the first Role-Playing Game I ever played and for 16 years it was the only RPG I played with any regularity. Sure, I tried a few others, back in the day. The 6 month long Call of Cthulhu game I played in was a nice diversion and I had a blast playing, but I never strayed too far from my first love, and saw no reason to do so. 


When Wotc bought TSR and announced they were releasing 3e, I was excited. I never cared for 2nd edition. I hated the whole Blood War thing and the caving in to the paranoid sensibilities of the Satanic Panic nutjobs, didn't like the Monstrous Compendium Binder, disliked the style, artwork, and the whole 2e presentation; I was also really, really, pissed that they got rid of all the cool Conjuration/Summoning spells.  

There were some bright spots. Planescape, Darksun, a few other gems in the endless sea of mediocre accessories, but, by and large, aside from picking up the occasional Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk supplement, I didn't bother with 2e. But when Wotc took over, I felt confident that things would be different, that these people knew what they where doing and would make a worthy successor to the earlier editions of the game. 

All in all, I think they did a good job. 3e was a player's dream, a dm's headache, but an overall fun RPG. Way too rules heavy. A bit problematic in places, said problems being exacerbated on a monthly basis as more and more rules were vomited forth from deep within the lair of Wotc, et al. I loved making monsters like a Half-Dragon Fiendish Vampire Barbarian Minotaur, but dming 3e was such a time consuming task that it didn't always feel worth the hassle. 


When 3.5 came out I ponied up the bucks and upgraded. Then, after I ended my last campaign, I decided to take a hiatus from gaming for health reasons. During my vacation, Wotc announced 4e. "What the Hell?! 4e? Really?" With every press release, things just kept sounding worse, worser, and worst of all. "Oh, and by the way, while they're at it they plan on screwing up the Forgotten Realms too!"  


I've looked over some of the 4e material. I'd like to support the current version of the game, but aside from the awesome artwork, there's not much there I really care for. Meanwhile, there's this little voice in the back of my mind that keeps saying "Screw 4e and the Dragon he road in on. To hell with 3e to. You know what you really want to play."


Meanwhile, while I was mulling all this over, surfing the web and checking out the lay of the land, I discovered the Retro-Clones. While I slept, the Old School Gaming Renaissance was in full swing; it was like a sign from the gaming gods! If I wasn't such a cynical bastard I would take it as such, pick up a retro-clone and plan my game from there. 


Part II coming soon, but speaking of Old School, I've found the Link to AKS Hexmapper; it's in my link section, located on the right, near the bottom of the page.